Arundhatī
Arundhatī
Arundhatī is the wife of Vasishṭha Maharshi. The Purāṇas and the epics honour her as the model of pātivratya (faithfulness to one’s husband). In the Mahābhārata‘s Anuśāsana Parva she is one of the company of seven great ṛshis who wandered the earth during a great famine. She went hungry with them. She refused the wealth of King Vṛshādarbhi as unfit for those who do tapas (austerity). At the lotus-pond she answered the rākshasī Kṛtyā by giving the meaning of her own name. In the Vāmana Purāṇa she goes with the Saptarshis to Himavān as the one best suited, in Bhagavān Śiva‘s words, to the ways of a good household, and takes the bride Kālī on her lap; by keeping the fast of the Nakshatra Purusha vrata she became worthy of worship for all womankind.
Identity
Arundhatī is the wife of Vasishṭha. She is known as the first of all pativratās (faithful wives). Her faithfulness to her husband was so complete that her name came to stand for the ideal of a wife’s faithfulness.
The Purāṇas give her origin in different ways. The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa calls her the sister of Nārada. The Śiva Purāṇa, in the Satī Khaṇḍa, says she is the reborn form of Sandhyā. She is Vasishṭha’s companion in many accounts, including the embassy for the wedding of Śiva and Pārvatī and the Piṅgalā episode of the Rāmāyaṇa.
The Bisa-Stainya Upākhyāna (Anuśāsana Parva)
In the Bisa-Stainya Upākhyāna of the Anuśāsana Parva, Arundhatī is named with the sapta-ṛshis (seven ṛshis): Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasishṭha, Bharadvāja, Gautama, Viśvāmitra and Jamadagni. With them are the maidservant Gaṇḍā and her śūdra husband Paśusakha. These ten wandered the whole earth in tapas and samādhi (deep meditation), and a terrible famine overtook them.
King Vṛshādarbhi offered the starving company great wealth. Arundhatī joined the ṛshis in refusing it. They called it rājapratigraha (a gift taken from a king), which was not fit for those who do tapas.
Arundhatī saw a plump ascetic, who was later shown to be Indra in disguise. She was the first to say to the ṛshis that they too ought to be as sturdy as he was. This remark led each ṛshi to give a riddling reason for his own thinness.
At the lotus-pond guarded by the rākshasī Kṛtyā, each of them had to say their own name before taking bisa (lotus-stalks). Arundhatī, like the ṛshis before her, did so. She gave a learned derivation of her own name. It spoke of her upholding the mountains, the earth and the wealth of the devas, and of her staying true to her husband. Kṛtyā could not understand this meaning, so Arundhatī passed safely into the pond.
She stayed free of lobha (greed) through all the trials of the famine. At the end of the account Indra gave her, and the whole company with her, the imperishable worlds won by puṇya (merit).
The Arundhatī–Citragupta Rahasya (Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 130)
In the Rahasya-Dharma cycle, the ṛshis, the pitṛs (ancestors) and the devas come together to Arundhatī. She has grown venerable through tapas, and her śīla (good conduct) equals Vasishṭha‘s own tapo-śakti (power of austerity). They ask her for the dharma-rahasya (secret of dharma) most worth guarding in the heart.
Arundhatī teaches the following.
- These secrets may be given only to one of pure mind and śraddhā (faith). They must never be given to the faithless, the proud, one who has killed a brāhmaṇa, or one who has wronged the wife of his guru.
- Giving one kapila cow every day for twelve years, doing a monthly satra-yajña, or giving a hundred thousand cows at Jyeshṭha-Pushkara does not equal the puṇya of a person whose atithi (guest) leaves truly satisfied.
- She also gives the secret of a rite at dawn. The person takes darbha grass with water from among the cows and sprinkles it on their horns and heads while keeping an upavāsa (fast). This rite bears fruit equal to bathing at every tīrtha (pilgrimage place) of the three worlds.
The devas, the pitṛs and the pañcabhūtas (the five elements) all rejoiced and honoured her. Brahmā himself blessed her that her tapas would grow without end.
In the same chapter Yama follows her teaching. He tells Citragupta’s own secret about dāna (giving).
Arundhatī in the Vāmana Purāṇa
The Vāmana Purāṇa, told by Pulastya Maharshi to Nārada Maharshi, names Arundhatī in four chapters.
At Daksha’s yajña and in the Dārukāvana
When Daksha began his great yajña, he invited the ṛshis with their wives, as couples, and Arundhatī and Vasishṭha are the first named: Arundhatī and Vasishṭha, Atri and Anasūyā, Dhṛti and Kauśika, Ahalyā and Gautama, Amāyā and Bharadvāja, and Candrā and Aṅgiras.
When Bhagavān Śiva came to the Dārukāvana and asked for bhikshā (alms), all the wives of the Bhārgava and Ātreya ṛshis lost their self-control and followed him. Only the supreme pativratās Arundhatī and Anasūyā were not touched by that change.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 2, 6
With the Saptarshis at Himavān’s court
When Devī Satī had been born again as Umā, the daughter of Himavān, Bhagavān Śiva remembered the maharshis together with Arundhatī. They came to him on Mount Mandara and sat with Arundhatī on the slopes of the mountain, and Nandīśvara served them. Śiva asked the seven, Kaśyapa, Vasishṭha, Atri, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Bharadvāja and Aṅgiras, to go to Himavān and ask for his daughter. Then he said to Arundhatī: “Sundarī! You go as well. It is the best of women who know the ways of good housewives.” Understanding the custom of the world, which is not to be set aside, the sādhvī agreed, bowed with the words “Rudra! Namaskāra to you”, and went behind her husband.
In Himavān’s assembly Aṅgiras, the eldest of the ṛshis, began: “Hear the purpose for which we have all come to you, with the sādhvī Arundhatī, sent by Parama Śiva.” When Himavān, with Menā and the mountains, gave Kālī to Śiva and the maiden bowed to the maharshis, Arundhatī lovingly took Kālī, shy and shrinking, onto her lap and delighted her with soft, sweet words full of Hara’s name. When the Saptarshis returned to Mandara, Śiva honoured all the maharshis in due order, together with Arundhatī.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 26
The Nakshatra Purusha vrata
Pulastya Maharshi taught Nārada the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, the worship of Śrī Hari in his nakshatra-purusha form, in which each nakshatra rests on one of his limbs, from Mūla at his feet upwards. He says: “Nārada! Fasting well on all these nakshatra-yogas and worshipping Prabhu Janārdana, Arundhatī Devī became worthy of worship for all womankind.”
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 93
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 130
- Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 200
- Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Satī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 4
- Rāmāyaṇa (the Piṅgalā episode; no chapter given)
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 2, 6, 26, 54